Shore Crunches ‘Cats

cm-footballBALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – Too good, too experienced…that was the story line from Jersey Shore’s Halloween Night 56-13 win over a youthful Central Mountain High School football team.

The downriver Bulldogs came to Malinak Stadium, ‘Shore’s first undefeated regular season in more than half a century on the line. And if any of the large contingent of Bulldog fans feared a letdown a veteran Jersey Shore squad put them quickly to rest.

Senior quarterback Logan English had a career night passing, wide-out Brody Smith a spectacular night catching and junior running back Levi Lorson another grind-it-out 100-yard-plus night. Shore would score early and often, 13-0 after one quarter and 35-7 by halftime.

For Central Mountain it was another game effort but missed tackles on defense and costly turnovers on offense proved too much to overcome. Meanwhile Bulldog defenders were all over the field, holding Central Mountain to just 11 net yards at halftime, only 120 on the night.

Again a bright spot for the Wildcats, as has often been the case all year, was do-everything sophomore Justin Neff. He provided Central Mountain’s only two touchdowns, kickoff returns of 84 and 85 yards and also added another inception to his seasonal tally.

And junior running back Hunter Weaver got his 1,000 yards on the season, finishing the night with 64 yards on 21 carries, ending the year with 1,039 yards.

But the night belonged to Jersey Shore which finished the regular season 10-0 and now preps for the District Four AAA playoffs likely beginning next weekend.

English was 8 of 10 passing (with one interception) for 177 yards and four touchdowns, three of them to Smith who caught four in all for 120 yards, Smith also adding a 2-point conversion on an English pass.

Lorson balanced English’s passing with a 134-yard rushing night on 30 carries.

The game’s final minutes ended on a relatively light note between the two teams. ‘Shore’s Boone Costa calmly drop-kicked the extra point after teammate Zack Miller moved in at quarterback and scored on a 10-yard run.

Central Mountain would counter, unsuccessfully, when Clayton Butler tried a dropkick extra point after Neff’s second touchdown, but it was no good. Four-year letter-winner Loc Long, a career lineman, went in as a running back and picked up nine yards in his first and only carry.

The Wildcats finished at 1-9 but always battled throughout season under first-year coach Mike Nines and can take some solace in knowing that Jersey Shore was 0-10 two years ago, the first year as Bulldog head coach for Tom Gravish. Now the Bulldogs are 10-0, proving turnarounds are possible.

Central Mountain defensive tackle Ken Yerger was honored before the game with presentation of the Sam Casilio Memorial Award, named after the late Wildcat football player and presented each year by his family. The honor recognizes Yerger’s contributions to the program.

Thanks to Our Seniors

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October 31, 2014 1 2 3 4 TOTAL
JERSEY SHORE 13 22 7  14  56
CENTRAL MOUNTAIN  0 7 0  6  13

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